It's no secret that Avengers: Endgame star Josh Brolin was eyed for the role of Hal Jordan in Lanterns. He turned that down but is reportedly still high up on the list of actors James Gunn hopes to add to the DCU.
There's been some speculation that he could take on the title role in Mike Flanagan's Clayface movie, an undeniably interesting use of the actor best known for playing the MCU's Mad Titan, Thanos.
However, according to Nexus Point News' @ApocHorseman, Brolin is not on DC Studios' radar for Clayface. In fact, the studio is looking for a completely different type of performer.
"Not true," the scooper said in response to the Brolin speculation. "Like I said it’s gonna be someone much younger. They haven’t even started casting and won’t do so until they have a director. Someone claims DC still wants Brolin for a role and then everyone assumes he’s gonna be cast in the next project to start casting."
While the shape-shifting villain has made an animated appearance in Creature Commandos, there are multiple versions of the character in the DC Universe so that may not have been the Clayface.
The first iteration of this character debuted in the 1940s, mere months after The Joker. At the time, Basil Karlo was little more than a deranged B-List actor and killer who dressed up as the sinister "Clayface" character he'd played in the past.
Furious he'd been recast in the monstrous role, Karlo went on a killing spree that saw him target the cast of the film made without him. Batman and Robin eventually hunted him down, of course.
Karlo eventually gained shape-shifting abilities but many of you will know Matt Hagen, an adventurer who turned into a monster after encountering a radioactive pool of protoplasm, thanks to his role in Batman: The Animated Series. There, he was portrayed as an actor who used an anti-ageing cream to look younger. After getting on the wrong side of its creator, Roland Daggett, Hagen is doused in a vat of the stuff and transforms into a monster.
The third Clayface was Preston Payne, with Sondra Fuller, Cassius Payne, Peter Malley, Todd Russell, and Johnny Williams all following.
"I didn’t plan on making a Clayface movie," Gunn recently shared. "Mike came in. He pitched this wonderful idea. I was like, 'Damn, I can’t believe you got me to want to make a Clayface movie.' But he’s got to write the script and who knows how that’s going to work."
"He goes and he writes the script. First draft is great. Second draft is even better. And then I’m like, 'Let’s do it,'" the filmmaker continued. "So we found a place for it because if there’s quality stuff, we can find a way to work it in."
Clayface arrives in theaters on September 11, 2026.